Anticipated Victory of UAE Rail Linkages

By 2018, for the first time ever, the more than 2000 kilometers stretch of GCC rail network connecting all 6 Gulf countries by rail to provide an alternative route to sea or air travel for both passengers and goods in the region will be wholly functional. Its completion is expected to create big success not only for UAE but as well to other 5 countries linked by the railway. The capital city, Abu Dhabi leads the GCC rail network with its 40 billion dirham Etihad Rail project. It will connect prime industrial areas, ports, and cities in the UAE, and will ultimately connect with the GCC railway. It will be vital for the union of the sources of raw materials, industrial areas, ports and major population centers.

“The designs of the close to 200B dollars network, that will span all through the Gulf coast from Kuwait, throughout Saudi Arabia, to Oman and the United Arab Emirates, with branches connecting Qatar and Bahrain, will be finished by the end of this year or in the 1st quarter of the following year. Building on the network will begin from 2014 to 2015 and it will be in full operation in 2018,” an officer’s statement during the Mena Rail & Metro Summit held in the capital city. The Etihad Rail network will cover Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.